


For the Heart I Once Had

by Neila_Nuruodo



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Angst, Ascians (Final Fantasy XIV), Gen, Grief/Mourning, Necromancy, Possession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:29:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23816947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neila_Nuruodo/pseuds/Neila_Nuruodo
Summary: 5.2 spoilers.  Elidibus remembers Ardbert as he begins his mission on the First.
Relationships: Elidibus & Ardbert (Final Fantasy XIV)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	For the Heart I Once Had

As he approached the unremarkable cairn, Elidibus could only think: Emet-Selch would have no such burial place. Even if he had left corporeal remains, no one would have cared enough to tend them. No one but himself.

Certainly, for all the claims of _remembering_ the Warrior of Light had been overheard to make, no one had taken the time or trouble to so much as construct a simple memorial for his fallen brother.

He paused with one hand resting on the heavy stone slab that served as its lid. For a moment he drew upon his memories of Ardbert—the man's abject horror when, during their first meeting, he had confirmed that it was their actions which had sparked the Flood of Light which now consumed all in its wake. The way he had seized upon the path Elidibus offered him and his friends—barely a thought to the difficulty they must face, the sacrifice given gladly for a chance to atone, to set to right the wrong they had done in ignorance.

He remembered when they had shed their flesh to become beings of luminous energy. How they had glowed, and danced. Remembered his own shock at seeing Ardbert's soul, at recognizing it. The potential—even as a tiny sliver of the original—that had opened up before him had been heady.

When he had guided those souls through the aetherial rift to the Source, he had instinctively cradled them close, spreading his essence like great wings to shelter them. It had been precious beyond words to hold that soul close by his own after so long.

Cold stone, chill seeping through his fingers, gently pushed the memory aside. He sighed. The soul had shown potential, yes. But the path had led him back to the First, to halt the Flood. Well…

Emet-Selch's report made plain that Ardbert had not sacrificed his soul's remaining power as the others had. He remained, to walk the world, waiting for _something._ If there was any justice in this shattered world, he would find it, if he had not already. Almost Elidibus hoped he would find this body inaccessible, still protected from Ascian tampering by the soul's lingering presence—not that he wished restlessness upon him, but if he yet wandered the First, then perhaps Elidibus might chance to find him. A soul such as Ardbert's would be useful—ideal, even—for some of his long-term goals. No doubt he would be suffering loneliness, if he yet drifted through this shard, a loneliness that Elidibus knew intimately.

Much as it might set his current plans back, a part of him could not help but selfishly wish for companionship.

He recognized and convicted the reticence within himself, reaching his power out to lift the stone and set it aside. Ardbert's remains were almost perfectly preserved; were it not for the lack of spark within the body, he might have thought him simply asleep. He reached slowly down, laying gentle fingers on his brow. He took a deep breath and stretched tendrils of power into the body.

To some disappointment, they sunk in like water into parched ground. Within a span of moments he had poured his entirety into Ardbert's flesh. Sitting up, he forced a sigh through disused lungs.

It seemed Ardbert had departed, then. It was, he assured himself, for the best; it had been quite some time in the reckoning of the First. It would be cruel to wish such a span of loneliness on an ephemeral soul. It was for the best… He rubbed absently at the center of his chest as he stepped from the low box that had protected the corpse.

At this juncture there was naught to be done for that soul. He could but offer remembrance, a memorial built of acts. He would use Ardbert's body to finish what they had begun together—the coup de grace unto a slowly dying world, that it need no longer suffer and that every soul upon the Source could grow stronger.

After all, in that way Ardbert could be reborn, in a sense, for he would either be joined to a living soul there on the Source or find the rest of himself in the lifestream where he need but await rebirth.

As cruel as the cycle of rebirth was to the sundered, a part of Elidibus was soothed that that soul would walk the world again. Until then, he would _be_ Ardbert; he would carry forth his legacy faithfully and bring about the rejoining, thus obliterating all trace of Ardbert's greatest regret—a benediction of light to forgive all sins.

It was the least he could do for one so precious. Duty had forbidden him the chance to connect with that soul. But perhaps it would not always do so.

**Author's Note:**

> It is clear to me that Elidibus would not have tried to convince the Warrior of Light he really was Ardbert if he had any idea that he had joined with them. Since it seems likely in the course of helping the Warriors of Darkness shed their flesh and travel to the Source that he would see Ardbert's soul (as he sees and recognizes Zenos toward the end of 5.0), this means he cannot have any idea which soul the Warrior bears...


End file.
